


It's All So Quick and I Feel Sick

by jacksparrow589



Category: Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: Dorks in Love, F/M, Mutual Pining, it'd be requited if they'd just talk to each other, reciprocal crushes, the dance that should have changed everything
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2019-11-01
Packaged: 2021-01-16 11:28:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21270314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jacksparrow589/pseuds/jacksparrow589
Summary: Anne and Gilbert each have a moment of introspection before going to sleep the night after the dance practice.Title from Dodie's "If I'm Being Honest", which inspired this ficlet.





	It's All So Quick and I Feel Sick

**Author's Note:**

> I can't video edit worth a damn, so this song got a ficlet from me instead, but man, it fits them so wonderfully. If we if ignore 3x06, anyway... *grumbles*
> 
> I wrote and edited this all on my phone while commuting to and from work, so formatting may be wonky. Please excuse it, or at least point it out so I can fix it.

Now that she was aware, Anne couldn't fathom how she hadn't noticed it before.

Had Gilbert always looked at her that way? He must have, because her heart had always beat faster in response.

She'd thought it must have been because he'd rescued her at first. And really, she was grateful for it.

Then, she'd thought it had been their rivalry. Fighting always got the blood pumping, after all.

Most recently, it had been that they'd truly gotten to know each other. Gilbert treated her as an equal in intelligence, both regarding her with respect for the areas in which she excelled and he did not, and as willing help for subjects she found more difficult and he found easier. They were an excellent team in so many ways.

And that dance, that damnable, star-crossed, glorious dance, had just been one more thing proving that. As he'd leaned down to playfully murmur "Nope" and swing her out of place, Anne realized he'd been calculating. He knew exactly what his "misstep" meant, and he wanted her to know, too. The realization of this caused Anne's stomach to effervesce with hope and warmth... and _longing_.

She'd been a fool to run away, and infinitely more so to allow Charlie Sloane to walk with her instead of going back, but then, Gilbert had fled, as well. Anne had never been overwhelmed by feelings like this before. It was too much and not enough at the same time. She wanted nothing more than for that dance to stretch on into eternity.

Well, not nothing, exactly—the only thing she wanted more was for Gilbert to feel the same.

* * *

Gilbert lay awake, his hands woven together behind his head. Not for long, though; he removed one and looked at it.

Only hours ago, he'd used it to spin Anne out of place as she laughed and looked at him in giddy disbelief.

Then, something else had entered her eyes.  
Deny it though he might, in his heart of hearts, he knew everything Bash had said about Gilbert's feelings for Anne was true. He cared very much for her, but more than that, he wanted to dance with her like that every day; to hold her close and make her laugh, and to have her look at him as though they were the only two people who existed.

He knew he hadn't been imagining it—Anne had looked at him differently. She was so easy to read, at least in terms of _what_ she was feeling if not _why_. So when the dance had ended and the spell had broken, he'd seen surprise and confusion take the place of admiration, and knew his expression mirrored hers.

So, Anne had run away. And instead of doing as his heart screamed at him to and going after her and just talking about it for once, he'd run, too.

He told himself things were too complicated. Any beyond-friendly feelings on Anne's part were clearly a momentary aberration—she'd been so hot and cold the past few months—and anyway, she had Charlie pursuing her, and Winifred... was a similar complication. (She wasn't really; he could just politely distance himself at anytime, but knowing Anne had someone else with a solid interest in her left a pit in his stomach that Winifred managed to alleviate somewhat.)

He'd been an idiot to do something so reckless. He was a fool in so many ways.

Not least of all because, even now, thinking of all the reasons his actions during that dance were futile and ill-conceived, he would do it all again without hesitation.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm going to say what I've seen other authors say: please don't bash Winnie in the comments. I personally get the feeling she's not as into Gilbert as the story would like us to believe, and I want to see her and Anne become friends and take on the world.
> 
> As for Gilbert, I feel like he's mostly being your typical teenage boy, though his lack of reaction to certain events in 3x06 definitely felt a little out of character for him. Hopefully he'll get it together next episode...


End file.
